Wilson’s Catherine Arentz on the fast track to success

Track & Field coverage presented by ATT Sports, Inc.

By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent

The moment Catherine Arentz discovered she was fast didn’t happen on the field hockey turf or even the track. It came under cover of darkness playing Manhunt.

Those games were a tradition in Arentz’s neighborhood, which happened to have a lot of kids her age. Wilson’s junior was soon in demand.

“Every night in the summer. I was always the one people wanted on their team,” she said. “I’d beat the boys. I was like, ‘Yes! I’m so fast.’ ”

Putting people in jail. Getting them out. Arentz could do it all.

That speed has since translated to sports. Arentz tried a lot of them. Field hockey is her future. She plans to play at Temple. Track is her present. She owns Berks County’s best time in the 100 and has a chance to claim gold at the Firing Meet this week.

A winding road led Arentz to the sprints. It often works that way. She used to play lacrosse in the spring and attempted both sports last year. She gave up lacrosse to focus on track. It takes precision to drop every tenth of a second one can in the 100.

Arentz, an All-State midfielder in field hockey, was a cross country runner initially. It became obvious she was better suited for short bursts than long distances.

“This is important to me because I feel I am fast,” she said. “I want to show people. I like winning. I like being competitive.”

There’s a difference between speed in a team context and speed all alone in a dash. It takes practice and technique to be a top sprinter. The fastest football players in the fall aren’t always the fastest in the spring.

Arentz hit her PR of 12.61 at the Bruce Dallas Invitational in early April. No one in Berks has matched that number. Exeter’s Aiyana Rivera and Gov. Mifflin’s Sierra Hess are next at 12.68 followed by Fleetwood’s Chanel Hercules at 12.77.

The top contenders are bunched together and the fastest girl in Berks will be crowned by a difference that’s the blink of an eye.

“It’s all your energy in one moment and that’s it,” Arentz said. “Twelve seconds. It’s the quickest thing. I think this is harder. If I mess up my step even a little bit, everything counts.”

Arentz recorded her top time while facing Spring Grove’s Laila Campbell, an out-of-this-world sophomore who has posted an 11.64. No other runner in the state has broken 12 seconds.

Matching up against the best helped Arentz find another gear.

“I was trying to get her,” she said. “With her being in front of me and wanting to be close with her, it made me run my best time. I like running against people that are fast. It makes me try harder.”

Arentz will face another challenge at the Firing Meet, which takes place at Mifflin Thursday and Saturday. Schuylkill Valley’s Madison Ziska and Tulpehocken’s Ella Ahner, previous district champions, are also under 13 seconds. It’s a crowded field if everyone enters that race.

Maybe Arentz should envision herself trying to capture people in the dark. That seems to bring out her best. Last summer she gave Manhunt another shot. She still had it.

“I feel like I run faster there than I run in track,” she said. “But I really don’t know. No one is counting.”

They’ll be counting this week. So far, no Berks sprinter has been better.